Around the world on an old XL250?

Have you seen our ABC Open ad on telly? Well here’s the story – and photo – behind one of the memorable moments from our 60 second TV spot.

If you haven’t seen our ad, click here to see it. Everyone in it is a real person, who has been a part of ABC Open, either as the subject of a story, the creative force behind it, or both.

If you check out our first ever project, One on One: Change, you’ll see the stories behind some of the familiar faces from the ad. Like these:

A bottler of an idea Glenn Haines bought a dairy farm, and over the last 42 years has seen a lot of change in the industry. His latest innovation means that he can take control of his working life, and keep his mind active by taking on a new challenge.

Light at the end of the tunnel Eileen King hasn’t let losing her sight stop her from doing what she loves. She teaches piano, and brings her guide dog Kelly along to ballroom dancing classes.

Drawing from experience After a lifetime working on the land, Tony Bishop is changing his focus from farming to producing children’s books based on the wildlife on and around his property.

Embracing the silence Yoga instructor Eloise Sinnott knew that moving from Sydney to Dungog was going to be a big change, but one thing she wasn’t prepared for was the quiet.

Dividing the time between town and country Since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Cathy Dowling has made a career switch from the ‘colour, lights, hustle and bustle’ of costume design to running a commercial art gallery in a small town.

Jane St Catherine has been involved with ABC Open since we first began. First in the Hunter region, where she worked with Open Producer Anthony Scully to make Light at the end of the tunnel, and now in South East NSW, where she took many memorable photos for our Portrait of a Stranger project.

In the ad, she’s the one sitting in a wooden armchair, blissfully remembering a formative moment:

‘it was just that feeling of freedom, just getting on the bike at long last, after all the planning’

Of all the teasing slivers of story, this is always the one that leaves me hankering to hear more.

What bike? What planning? What happened?

But now we finally get the chance to hear the rest of the story.

After a super busy winter working as a ski lift operator at Thredbo, Jane was disappointed to find out that The Moment Behind The Photo project had closed before she’d had a chance to get involved. So I let the deadline slide a little…

Jane came along to a Summer School session in Cooma, and we got together afterwards to get her set up to create a Moment Behind The Photo story. We recorded an interview into her voice recorder, and I gave her a quick-fire intro to Audacity and Windows Live Movie Maker on her laptop. Then Jane completed the edit and uploaded the story on her own.

It’s a bittersweet story about dreaming big, and having the guts to make that dream a reality. And the determination to keep the dream alive, despite the disappointment of things not going to plan.